A recent article explores the hypothesis that precariousness is a determining factor in the mental health of young people. The publication is by Lara Maestripieri, Matilde Cittadini, Adriana Offredi and Roger Soler i Martí, (IGOP/Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Míriam Acebillo-Baqué, INGENIO (CSIC-Universitat Politècnica de València); Karen van Hedel (Utrecht University) and Alba Lanau (Universitat Pompeu), and is based on a survey and focus group carried out in 2023 throughout Spain and focused on young people aged 20 to 34. In total, they interviewed 3,012 participants.
The article shows that what affects the mental health of young people is not so much lacking a permanent job as perceiving that they are in a precarious situation. Precariousness is a complex concept that also includes meanings that go beyond working conditions and are more related to the inability to guarantee a decent standard of living. The results show that job insecurity and economic insecurity are distributed unequally between social groups, but the feeling of precariousness is common among all young people in Spain.
For those surveyed, the meaning of precariousness goes beyond having a bad job: it is related to their ability to access a decent standard of living and have sufficient resources to cover the costs of an independent life (housing, food, energy). .
Job
While a considerable part of those under 30 years of age are full-time (28.6%) or part-time students (19.2%), in the group between 30 and 34 years old the most frequent situation is that of dedicating themselves only to work. (58.3%). Among young people of immigrant origin, temporary or sporadic contracts (12.3% in the case of male migrants under 30 years of age) or multiple employment (18.8% in the case of female migrants under 30 years of age) are more frequent than among natives or those over 30 years of age. Involuntary non-standard employment occurs among all groups, but is concentrated above all among the indigenous population under 30 years of age (more frequently among women). There is also a relevant percentage of young people without work, education or training (NEETs): 8.3%. Among men and women of immigrant origin, the proportion is even higher, 15% and 12%, respectively.
Only 28.1% of the sample defines precariousness as having a job with insufficient income or poor working conditions, and only 1.6% defines it as a lack of job opportunities.
To a large extent, those surveyed perceive precariousness in economic terms, and define it as the inability to afford independent housing (9.7%), to satisfy basic needs (23.8%) or to live a decent life (4. 5%). Others describe it as living below the minimum (5.3%) or feeling insecure both at work and in life in general (8.8%).
Mental health
31% of respondents are at potential risk of depression or anxiety. The feeling of precariousness is the most significant factor when it comes to explaining the mental health problems of young people. Women are more exposed to poor mental health than men and non-binary people. On the other hand, age, the fact of having emigrated or living in a rural area are not significant factors to explain poor mental health. Physical health problems or a disability have also been found to affect mental health.
40.6% of the young people interviewed reported suffering from health problems – feeling anxious or distressed, having difficulty sleeping or suffering from a physical health problem – due to economic difficulties. Migrants and non-binary people are the most exposed to this risk.
economic insecurity
63.6% of young adults surveyed have experienced at least one dimension of economic insecurity in the last two years, and have had to make adjustments or ask for help to meet their needs. Economic insecurity at the individual level is a phenomenon that is distributed unequally between social groups. For example, men of migrant origin are more likely than native men to have received help from an NGO (10%), to have been forced to change accommodation for economic reasons (around 15%) and to receive help from relatives or friends (33%). Migrant women are also vulnerable to economic insecurity, as shown by reducing consumption of basic goods (16%), energy consumption (27%) or delaying visits to the dentist (28%). In general, all groups tend to reduce their standard of living for economic reasons, but this trend is more pronounced among migrant women and non-binary people.
Respondents who feel they are in a situation of extreme precariousness have been more affected by the unfavorable macroeconomic context than those who consider themselves less precarious. For the former (score of 7 or more on our subjective precariousness scale), inflation (64.1%) and energy costs (65.3%) have represented a determining factor that has called into question the economic security of their families. families, while in the second group, with lower levels of subjective precariousness, these percentages were 56.9% and 56.5%, respectively.
Housing-related costs (41.5% in the former, 24.4% in the latter) and low labor income (42.2% versus 16.8%) also pose significant challenges for those who feel more precarious
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